


Oh No!

by Joey_TheWriter



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Alex Mercer Has Anxiety (Julie and the Phantoms), Bobby is Not Trevor Wilson, Cute Juke stuff, Cute Willex stuff, F/M, Fake Dating, Fake Dating that leads to dating..., Julie pretends to date Alex but falls in love with floppy hair, Just not in the conventional way, M/M, No beta we die like Sunset Curve, Set in the 90s because I'm way more comfortable to write in that era, Sunset Curve (Julie and The Phantoms), The Guys Are Alive, juke, who didnt die in this one, willex
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-13
Updated: 2021-01-17
Packaged: 2021-03-17 22:15:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28732554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Joey_TheWriter/pseuds/Joey_TheWriter
Summary: “So… you’re freaking out because Willie kissed you?”, Reggie asked. “Thought you were done freaking out about that one… after all you’ve been going out for weeks now…”“Yeah man”, Luke chimed in. “You suddenly got cold feet or what?”“My parents saw the hickey!” Alex said in a rush. “My parents saw this last night and now they want to meet my girlfriend and that’s why I’m screwed! I have to invite her to lunch on Sunday…”- OR -Julie agrees to fake date Alex but instead falls for his best friend and drama ensures!
Relationships: Alex Mercer/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Julie Molina/Luke Patterson
Comments: 64
Kudos: 276





	1. Alex

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ever_Whovian](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ever_Whovian/gifts), [booksarefriends](https://archiveofourown.org/users/booksarefriends/gifts).



> Hey guys, I saw this on tumblr and immediately had an idea. I know i shouldnt start yet another WIP coz I have literally no follow through motivation at the moment... sorry for the long wait... 
> 
> I have the whole story planned though. so that's the good thing I think?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit: 13/02/21 or for Americans 02/13/21 [writing the date like that feels like somethings that's illegal but isnt...]
> 
> I fixed a few things in here, rounded out the conversations a little bit and tried to eliminate gramatical errors I think I made? Not sure, grammar is not exactly my thing, I usually just go with whatever sounds the best... Anyway it's still basically the same so no worries, you don't have to read it again! :D  
> This is just a heads up that I fixed a few things while rereading to get back into it...

**\- ALEX -**

Alex knew he had screwed up.

His parents were staring him down as he stepped inside the house, both already in their PJs, probably having been ready to go to bed for hours now, seeing as their normal bedtime is around nine thirty at the latest. It was way past that, just like it was way past his school night curfew… He should have called and told them he would crash at Reggie’s or Luke’s.

Why had he not thought of that?

Then again…

For the first time in the 17 years of his life he hadn’t been worried. He had been too happy for that… But the thoughts and worries came once he got onto his street and realised that it was not 9pm – which was his curfew during school days – or Thursday for that matter. He was extremely late and very much in trouble.

“Care to explain why you get home at this ungodly hour?” Hank Mercer said, pressing the words out with clenched teeth. The vein at his neck sticking out, always a bad sign. His father was not happy.

“We’ve been worried sick! Do you have any idea what could have happened to you out there? Where have you been?” Angela Mercer had started fretting over her son instead, clearly more worried than angry.

“I’m sorry…” Alex mumbled. “Lost track of time…”

“Has this something to do with that silly band of yours?” His father said, eyes narrowed. It was no secret that his parents weren’t exactly happy about him being in a rock band, but his grades were good enough so they couldn’t hold that above his head, unlike Luke who seems to have gone from a D to failing… not that Luke cared much about the fact that he’s on the way to flunk literally any class and not graduate high school at this rate…

Alex blinked and shook his head. “No”, he said. “No, band practice ended at 7…” he added and paused, cursing himself immediately, he could have used that as a lie. Well, not exactly. His parents were good friends with Bobby’s where the band rehearses so they could have just called them in the morning and checked with them if Alex had told the truth or not. He knew his parents would do something like that, so lying was never really working in his favour…

“What have you been doing then?” His mother asked, clearly confused as to where her son had been in the six hours since band practice had ended, and he walked through the front door.

What was he supposed to say?

He could not tell them the truth.

Alex was most definitely not ready to share this with his parents. But at the same time, lying wasn’t exactly his speciality. Yeah, sometimes he left certain details out of the picture, but whenever he had to lie, like full blown lie, he let Luke and Reggie come up with them and run them through, so he didn’t have to lie. Because, what if the lie was not good enough? And they have even more questions than before? And then he had to answer these questions with even more lies…

Yeah, Alex really hated having to lie. But at the same time, he just couldn’t bear to tell his parents what’s actually going on.

It was not the right moment to tell them that Alex had been with his boyfriend, whom his parents had no idea that he existed. Although, they also had no idea that Alex was gay so… Not that he had wanted to change that anytime soon…

His parents wouldn’t understand. So obviously Alex couldn’t tell them about Willie or the most perfect date he had ever had. He wanted to. Alex wanted to tell his parents how happy Willie makes him, but…

They just wouldn’t understand it.

It wasn’t like they were bad parents, they were actually pretty okay most of the time, a bit overbearing and strict with their set curfews and stuff like that, even though Alex is just a few months shy of turning 18, but that just showed that they cared right? He knew they loved him but he wasn’t sure if they would still do that after he told them the truth.

His father was known for making crude jokes and sly remarks at gay people, Alex still remembered the day when newspapers had been plastered with the face of Freddie Mercury, the Queen front man, who had died a few years ago. His father had gloated when he saw the headlines, saying stuff like, he deserved it for being a well… Alex hated thinking about the word his father had said back then…

So yeah, while Alex was sure that his parents loved him, he wasn’t sure if that would still be the case if he told them about Willie and their relationship. Alex wasn’t ready for that yet.

“I’m sorry”, Alex said again. “I really am sorry for breaking curfew, but I got to get to bed now… been a long day and we have an algebra test tomorrow…” He moved past his mother and tried to duck by his father when Hank grabbed his sons arm and stopped Alex from moving up the stairs. His dad’s eyes set on his son’s neck.

“Is that a … hickey?” His father asked, suddenly quiet, staring at Alex in confusion, as the boy flushed bright red and visibly gulped. “Why didn’t you tell us that you have a girlfriend?” Suddenly his father’s demeanour shifted from angry to almost proud, clapping his hand on his son’s back, smiling now.

“Hank!” Angela called out and shook her head.

“Our son finally has a girlfriend! That’s worthy of a celebration!” Hank exclaimed, while Angela rolled her eyes.

“I – uh…” Alex mumbled trying to come up with something, anything really, but … if he told them that he didn’t have a girlfriend… then how should he explain the hickey on his neck.

“We’ll talk about it in the morning.” His mother decided. “It is late and you have school tomorrow, but don’t think for a moment that you’re off the hook for breaking curfew.”

“Yes, ma’am”, Alex mumbled and stared at his mother for a short second before literally bolting up the stairs and into his bedroom, sinking to the floor, leaning against the door with his head in his hands. He was so screwed, and he knew it.

“You look like hell”, was the way Teresa greeted her older brother as Alex sat down at the kitchen table. Dark circles under his eyes and the hood of his hoodie pulled over his head. He shot her a dirty look, while reaching for the cornflakes in the middle of the table. “Have you slept like… at all?”

What was he supposed to answer?

Sleep was off the table, after all, he had to come up with some sort of solution to get their parents of his back and make them forget about the absurd idea of him having a girlfriend while also avoiding having to tell them about Willie.

Deep down he had known that he would never be able to keep his sexuality or Willie a secret forever, but he had hoped for it to work out until he was out of the house at least, off to college or getting on that tour Luke had been talking about for literal years now… Because what if, they kicked him out?

“What a lovely morning!” His father exclaimed, a broad smile on his face, newspaper in his hand. He went to kiss his wife at the stove on the cheek, before settling at the breakfast table beside his two kids. “Now Alex, tell me all about that girl of yours!” His dad had never been one to beat around the bush, that’s for sure.

“You’ve got a girlfriend?” Teresa asked. “Since when? And more importantly who?” Curious she leaned towards her brother, staring at him with those big blue eyes or hers.

“Um-”, Alex said and stared at the bowl of cornflakes in front of him. “Well… it’s not…” He blinked.

“She’s probably a very nice young lady”, his mother said as she stirred the scrambled eggs in the pan. “How about you bring her over for lunch this Sunday? We’d love to meet her.”

Alex’ gaze shifted between his parents and his sister who were all staring at him expectantly. What was he supposed to do? Why didn’t this kinda of stuff come with a manual? He sighed, letting his head drop forward.

“Okay”, was all he was able to muster up, his appetite lost as he stared at the bowl in front of him. “I’ll just…” He was so screwed. “I’ll ask...” He said and moved his bowl away. “You done?” He said to his sister, not really waiting for her reply as he stood and moved to the door. He needed to get out of the house – NOW – grabbing the keys to his mom’s car, the one he only had the permission to use if he drove his sister to her school as well, it wasn’t a big deal though, since her school was only down the road of his school.

“What’s up with you today?” Teresa asked as she buckled herself in. “You’re so fidgety…”

“It’s nothing”, Alex muttered as he pulled out of the driveway.

“It’s clearly not nothing…” She answered. “But you’re obviously too busy being stuck inside your own head…” She rolled her eyes. “You know that you can talk to me about stuff that bothers you, right?”

“It’s nothing, Reese”, Alex said again, eyes stern on the road ahead. “Everything is just perfect.”

“You know that you avoid eye contact, when you’re lying right?” Teresa said with a raised eyebrow.

“I’m not-“ Alex stuttered. “I’m not lying, it’s called being a responsible driver!”

“If you say so”, was all Teresa said, before she shifted her focus out of the window, one hand twirling the end of her braid mindlessly between her fingers. She jumped out of the car as soon as he rolled to a stop in front of her school. Glad to get away from her brother’s nervous energy and incredibly happy that she didn’t have to deal with that for a few hours now. 

“I’m screwed”, Alex said as soon as his bandmates came into view huddled together at Reggie’s locker, like always. Luke turned around, opening his mouth, before he closed it again, staring at his best friend in concern. “And don’t ask me if I’m okay, because I’m clearly not!” Alex added immediately. “I’m so screwed!”

“What happened dude?” Reggie asked, shooting a look at Luke and Bobby. The first whose eyes were wide and concerned, the later more confused.

“I screwed up, okay?”

“You screwed up, we got that part, but what did you do?” Luke asked crossing his arms. “Did…” He shot a look around the crowded hallway before lowering his voice. “Did Willie do something that you… weren’t ready for?”

“What? No!” Alex said immediately, shaking his head. “No… It was perfect…”

“Just spill it Alex!” Bobby exclaimed tapping his foot on the floor, while staring at his friend, Bobby hated it when people beat around the bush and avoided talking about what had happened. “What happened?”

“I broke curfew…” Alex muttered. “Got home sometime after twelve and my parents were still up…”

“Oh damn”, Reggie muttered. “How long are you busted for?”

“That’s the thing”, Alex said and shrugged. “I don’t think I am…” He shrugged again. “They didn’t say anything about house arrest this time.”

“Then, what the hell do you mean with you’re screwed?” Luke asked. “Are they making you quit the band?” Alex sighed before he removed the hood from his head and turned his head to the side. He had tried to cover the hickey with his sister’s makeup, but he had no idea what he had been doing and ended up removing it, because it had looked even worse with the makeup.

Reggie snorted and shook his head. “So… you’re freaking out because Willie kissed you?”, Reggie asked. “Thought you were done freaking out about that one… after all you’ve been going out for what, six weeks now…”

“Yeah man”, Luke chimed in. “You suddenly got cold feet or what?”

“My parents saw it!” Alex rushed the words out. “My parents saw this last night and now they want to meet my _girlfriend_ and that’s why I’m screwed! I have to invite her to lunch on Sunday…”

“Oh”, Bobby muttered. “Yeah, you are screwed…” Luke punched his arm and stared at their rhythm guitarist with a pointed look. “But… you know Alex, there has to be some kind of solution?”

“Why don’t you just tell your parents about Willie?” Luke asked. 

“No!” Alex said immediately. “I- that is so not how I had planned on ever telling them.”

“What did you have planned?” Reggie asked and crossed his arms.

“Waiting ‘til I’m outta the house, I guess?” Alex answered. “Ugh, guys, what am I supposed to do now. I can’t just turn up with Willie there- this is so not how I have ever planned on me telling them…” He trailed off as Julie Molina approached their little group.

“Reggie, hey, um, my dad wanted to know if you could spare an hour or two in the next days, Carlos has been struggling with math again…” This was nothing out of the unusual, Reggie had been giving tutor lessons for years now, music instruments aren’t exactly cheap after all… Like always though, Reggie’s face lit up immediately.

“Of course, I always got time for the little dude!” Reggie said with a grin.

“We got a gig tomorrow night”, Luke reminded them, crossing his arms, anything that came between Luke and music was a nuisance, Alex sometimes wondered, if that would ever change… “And we still need to rehearse!”

“I’ll swing by at ten tomorrow?” Reggie said to Julie, completely ignoring Luke in the meantime.

“Sure, thanks Reggie!” The girl smiled and lifted her hand as a goodbye before walking away, her curls bouncing up and down as she caught up with her friend who had waited at the end of the hall.

“Now back to the problem at hand”, Reggie said and shifted his focus back to Alex. “You don’t want your parents to find out ‘bout… you know… so, the only solution would be for you to get a fake girlfriend?” He blinked as his three best friends stared at him as if he had just grown a second head. “What?”

“That’s actually not a bad idea”, Luke said with a smile. “Just get a girl to pretend to be your girlfriend for a few weeks and then break it off with her…”

“Or we could get a wig and dress up Reggie to pretend to be your girlfriend”, Bobby said with a grin, throwing his arm around Reggie’s shoulder.

“No!” Alex said immediately.

“Yeah, it wouldn’t work”, Reggie said with a serious nod, “his folks know me…”

“That’s not-… no…”, Alex said and shook his head. 

“Alex, it’s either asking a girl to help you out, sticking a wig on Reggie or coming out to your folks…” Bobby said and dropped the volume at the end, almost whispering. Alex knew that he was right.

“So… who’d we ask?” Reggie wondered, pulling a face of confusion.

“Dude, didn’t you just talk to Julie?” Bobby said in a deadpan voice, lifting his eyebrows while he stared at the bassist. “You’re friends with her right?”

“Oh yeah!” Reggie said with a nod. “Julie’s really cool, I’m pretty sure she’d be okay with it!”

And with that it was decided, so yeah, Alex was screwed. 


	2. Julie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay I did not expect this kinda feedback. I'm honestly a little bit overwhelmed that so many people seemed to like the first chapter.  
> Yesterday wasn't the greatest but omg, the response to the chapter made me so freaking happy. I really hope you like this chapter too! :D  
> Thanks guys for reading and commenting and all the kudos and stuff!!! 
> 
> PoVs are going to vary between Julie and Alex. Next up will be some Willex content and a gig, cause I want Julie's PoV when she meets Alex parents. So yeah, stay tuned. Gonna try to keep this up with one chapter per day! :D
> 
> EDIT 14/02/21 or for Americans in the weird way 02/14/21 (seriously why do you guys write dates like that?)  
> Edited a few minor things. Nothing big, rounded out a few of the sentences and tried to fix grammar errors!

**\- JULIE -**

Julie has just stepped foot inside the kitchen as the doorbell rang, and Carlos, eager like always whenever he knew that Reggie was coming over for a visit, was about to jump up from the table to greet his friend and math tutor, but one stern look from Rose Molina made the boy settle back down, dutifully shoving a fork full of scrambled eggs into his mouth.

“Julie, get the door, I’m sure Reggie would love some eggs and bacon as well.” Rose said to her daughter instead, who smiled, reaching for one of the grapes in the bowl, before she headed towards the front door, knowing full well, that Reggie would never say no to breakfast served by her mother. With a smile on her face, she opened the door only to raise a surprised eyebrow when she realized that Reggie was not alone on her porch.

“Reggie, Alex, hey”, she said with a confused look on her face. “What’s up?”

“Hey Julie”, Alex said in a quiet voice, rocking back and forth on his feet, eyes moving around, not really staying in one place for long.

“I can smell bacon!” Reggie exclaimed and took a step forward, only to be held back at the collar of his shirt by Alex.

“Could you not think about food for five minutes?” Alex said, shaking his head.

“Yeah right, sorry”, Reggie said with a sigh, Julie watching them with a confused look on her face. “We have something to ask you, Julie.” Reggie said to the girl. “It’s really important, but kinda private.” She glanced between the boys for a moment, Alex who was shifting from one foot to the other, his eyes looking at everything but her or Reggie, while Reggie tried for a winning smile.

Reggie and Julie were friends, had been ever since he first started to tutor her little brother, but then again, everybody that met Reggie would consider him a friend, he was the sort of person that you had no choice but like. Alex on the other hand, while she had known him for what seemed forever, she had never actually talked to him, beside the few times they had to during classes they had together in the past, but that barely counts… 

“Sure”, Julie said a moment later with a smile. “Let’s go down to the studio”, she added and turned around for a moment, calling to her parents that she’ll be back in a few minutes, before she closed the front door behind her and motioned the boys to follow her down to the studio located at the back of their house. 

“What’s up?” Julie asked again, closing the white double doors behind her, walking towards the couch while the boys stared around the space for a moment, before Reggie plopped down onto the chair while Alex stood rooted in the middle of the room, glancing around, staring at the chairs floating from the ceiling.

“Alex here is in a bit of a … troubled situation”, Reggie said, looking at his friend as if to ask him if that’s okay to say.

“Okay?” Julie said staring at the blond boy. “Um…”

“See, his parents think he has a girlfriend, and they want to meet her” Reggie explained further. “But the thing is, he doesn’t have a girlfriend…” Reggie trailed off with a small shrug of the shoulders

“If you don’t have a girlfriend, why do they think you have one?” Julie asked Alex.

“They saw a hickey on his neck…” Reggie said with a snicker. 

“Could you not-” Alex shakes his head, almost whispering what he had just said. Julie was confused as she looked between the boys, so he doesn’t have a girlfriend, but his parents saw a hickey. Who gave him the hickey if he doesn’t have a girlfriend?

“Who…?” She blinks. “These things don’t just appear out of nowhere, so who gave you the hickey?”

“It was someone older”, Reggie explained. “Someone we met at one of our gigs a while ago…” He trailed off as he saw the look Alex was shooting him. The message was clear, even for Julie, _don’t say more._

“My parents… wouldn’t approve if I brought-” Alex cuts himself of again. “Reggie had the brilliant idea that I should ask you to, you know, pretend to be my girlfriend for a few days?” Julie stared at the boy.

“Why don’t you just tell them, that you don’t have a girlfriend?” Julie said after a moment. “That it was all just a misunderstanding and well…” She trailed off, brushing a stray curl out of her face. “I mean… at 17 couldn’t you tell them, that it was just a random one-time only thing?”

Alex stared at Julie for a short second, before he started to walk around the room, Reggie sighed and sat up straight in his chair, putting his elbows onto his knees, leaning forward with a rather serious expression on his face, one Julie had never seen on Reggie’s face in all those years she’d known him.

“His folks aren’t okay with the band”, Reggie said after a moment, “Bobby’s the only one with somewhat supportive parents… Well, kinda, at least they let us use their garage.” Reggie ran his hand through his hair. “Random hook-up as cover up is out of the window, cause then they’d have an actual reason to make him quit the band.”

“Oh”, Julie said with big eyes, shifting her gaze towards Alex still running laps around the studio.

“Dude, can you stop with your model strut for a moment?” Reggie said, standing from his seat. “Just take a deep breath, we’re gonna find a solution!”

“Okay”, Julie found herself saying, just as Alex stopped dead in his tracks, about to say something as well, “I’m going to help you, Alex.” Alex let out a relieved sigh and actually wound up with the first actual smile since the two of them came over.

“Look, I know that we’re not exactly friends”, Alex said and stepped closer to the couch. “But I really appreciate this! You’re a lifesaver, Julie!”

“And you totally would get something out of it!” Reggie added. “Unlimited concert tickets and backstage passes to like every show we are going to play with the band, you’ll forever be on the list, like even when Sunset Curve fills out stadiums, which is something that will happen for sure!” Julie grinned, shaking her head at his enthusiasm, not that she doubted him.

He had given her a demo CD just a few weeks ago, she knew that Reggie’s band was good. Her mum had told the boy on multiple occasions that they would hit it big sooner than later and she even managed to get them a few local gigs. People knew them, and Julie had no doubt that it was only a matter of time, before Sunset Curve was going to be huge. 

But she didn’t need a bride of this calibre to help out a friend like that. There was something that they hadn’t told her about this whole situation, but she also knew that it was not exactly her place to prod about what is really going on.

She knew that it may have been a terrible idea to agree to this whole thing, cause for one, what if it’ll blow up in their faces and create this huge mess? And then there were these nagging thoughts at the back of her head, after all she reads books and isn’t it a common trope that things like these never work out and when two people pretend to fake date, they fall in love anyway? Alex was with someone, so if she fell in love with him, like she had seen it happen in books and movies, that meant she’d get her heart broken in the process, right?

She quickly shook her head, getting rid of that thought immediately, because just because something happened in books didn’t mean these things could also happen in real life. Alex was asking a friend for help, she knew that she wouldn’t be able to say no. But there were a few things to sort out before she could agree to be Alex’ pretend girlfriend.

“As tempting as unlimited concert tickets are…” Julie said with a smirk. “That seems a bit much, to be honest…” She added. “What would I need to do to play your girlfriend?”

“Well, my parents want me to introduce my _girlfriend_ to them tomorrow, they invited her, well you, to have lunch with us.” Alex explained.

“Okay”, Julie said with a nod. “But we need to set some boundaries and we definitely need a story of how this happened.” She motioned between them. “A believable story”, she stressed. She couldn’t let a friend down, no matter how brief the friendship is. Alex is extremely important to Reggie and Reggie has been around long enough for the Molinas to consider him family, so that obviously meant that she had to help him out. It would only be for a few hours anyways. “I’m gonna be the best fake girlfriend you ever had.” Julie added winking at the blond boy in the middle of her studio.

Reggie cracked first and started laughing immediately, while Alex stared at the girl on the couch, before a smile crept onto his face.

“Thanks Julie”, he said. “I really owe you bigtime.” Julie grinned and walked towards the white double doors of the studio.

“How about we get some breakfast and then Alex and I can work out the details of this fake relationship thing… after all, you want them to believe it, right?” She said over her shoulder.

“Sounds great”, Alex said with a nod.

“Finally, we get some bacon!”, added Reggie.

“Mum also made _Mallorca’s_ this morning, cause she knew you’d visit”, Julie added with a grin.

“Yes!” Reggie exclaimed, pumped a hand into the air and was out of the door before either of his friends could really say anything.

“Sometimes… I really wonder how he gets these extremely high grades in all his classes… when he behaves like this…” Alex muttered, staring at the open door.

“Food is his kryptonite”, Julie said with a laugh, to which Alex could only agree with a nod as they both followed their friend that has been long out of sight by now up to the house. By the time Julie and Alex stepped through the backdoor into the kitchen, Reggie seemed to have already inhale half of the food on his plate.

“Who’s your friend?” Carlos said as he caught sight of Alex, awkwardly standing in between the kitchen isle and the table.

“That’s Alex”, Julie said. “We’re doing … a project together.” She added before sitting down at the table, motioning for Alex to do the same.

“Hello Alex”, Rose said with a smile, setting her coffee down, before she moved around the kitchen to get another plate and set it down in front of the boy. “Don’t be shy, dig in.” She added and pointed towards the food set on plates in the middle of the table.

“Thanks”, Alex said with a polite smile, digging in.

“So, what kind of project are you two working on?” Rose asked the two teens.

“Oh, just this thing for history”, Julie said with a nonchalant shrug, reaching across the table for one of the _Mallorca’s_ before Reggie would have the time to eat them all. She hated lying to her parents, but the truth was not something she would be able to share with them. As understanding and supportive as her parents were, they’d never let her help Alex fool his parents the way they are planning to do. She droned on a bit longer about the current topic they had in history class to make it more believable to her parents. Alex nodded occasionally, agreeing with whatever she said.

Half an hour later Alex and Julie walked up the stairs to start working on their _project_ , while Reggie and Carlos took over the living room to start the math tutoring session.

“Okay, we need to set some boundaries”, Julie said and moved across the room sitting down on the edge of her bed, while Alex moved to sit on her desk chair, right in front of the big window overlooking the studio. “No kissing”, Julie said immediately.

“Definitely no kissing”, Alex agreed immediately. 

“Good.” Julie said with a smile. “So, how did we meet?” She asked with a smile and so they worked on the fine tuning of their story, how they met, how they got together, and all that stuff that parents might want to know once they met their kids _love interest._

“And now onto the more important question, how did you meet the person you’re actually dating?” Julie asked with curious smile on her face. Alex shifted, suddenly nervous again, his eyes flitting across the room. Julie moved her head to the side. “You don’t have to tell me anything if you don’t want to, I’m sorry for making you uncomfortable.”

“That’s not…” Alex shook his head. “I’m just new to this all…” He sighs.

“First relationship?” She asked and he nodded, they sat in silence for a while. He was obviously not comfortable talking about it, she didn’t want to overstep any boundaries because it was basically none of her business. Just because she was pretending to be his girlfriend did not give her any rights to ask him about his actual relationship. If he didn’t want to talk about it, that’s fine with her. She should leave it at that.

That was the moment his eyes caught sight of the clock on her wall and widened before he scrambled to his feet.

“Luke’s gonna kill us”, he muttered, before hurriedly walking to the door, “Reg and I are late for rehearsal…” He added when he caught the confused look on her face. “Thanks Julie, for doing this, you’re a literal life saver!” He said, before yanking her door open and running downstairs with a laughing Julie following close by.

“Reg! We gotta go”, Alex said as soon as he saw Carlos and Reggie playing with the GameBoy Carlos had gotten last Christmas. “We’re late.”

“Oh shoot”, Reggie said, jumping up from his spot on the couch. “You’re right!” Ruffling Carlos hair before jumping over the couch table to catch up with Alex, who was already at the now open door. “Bye to all Molinas!” He added with a laugh, before he literally ran after Alex. Julie was shaking her head with amusement, before she closed the door after the two boys who had just stormed out of her house.

She had a feeling that no matter how this is going to work out, these boys are probably going to turn her life upside down. For better or worse, she wasn’t sure yet.


	3. Alex

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the slight delay, I struggled a bit to find the right words for the end...  
> I hope you guys like it! :D
> 
> EDIT 15/02/21 or for the americans 02/15/21:  
> Again slight grammar corrections, also again rounded out some of the conversations, again nothing major, just some stuff that didnt sit right while rereading... (for as lazy as I can be, sometimes I have these really perfectionistic tendencies...)

**\- ALEX -**

“Nice of you two to finally grace us with your presence”, Luke said as Reggie and Alex staggered into Bobby’s parent’s garage, their current rehearsal space until they finally got enough money to rent out an actual studio. Cause the garage was not perfect at all, cause the constant noise complaints from the neighbours weren’t ideal.

“Sorry, dude”, Reggie said gasping for air. “But we’re like only twenty minutes late and we just ran like 8 blocks so you gotta cut us some slack.”

“We were at Julie’s”, Alex explained. “She agreed to help me out.”

“That’s awesome”, Bobby said with a relieved smile. “That means I don’t have to convince Carrie, thanks for sparing me on that one…”

“Just like I don’t have to wear a wig! Guess we dodged a bullet there”, Reggie joked, bumping his fist against Bobby’s before he picked up his red bass guitar.

“Great, now that that’s all sorted out”, Luke said with a pointed look. “We got an important gig tonight, let’s get rehearsing!” Alex shook his head with a roll of his eyes before he settled behind his drum kit. “Crooked Teeth.” Luke didn’t need to say more than that and with a swift nod, Alex counted them in.

They had come a long way since they had first started out as a band. At first, it had been only Alex and Luke messing around with their respective instruments, imitating rock stars they had seen on the telly. Alex had picked up the drums to help with his anxiety in fourth grade, when one of his teachers suggested it might be a good way to help him cope with everything; Luke got his first guitar shortly after Alex had picked up the drums.

Alex still remembered the mesmerized look on Luke’s face on the day he decided that he wanted to learn how to play the guitar.

They had been at Luke’s house, like they were so often after school. Mitch was at work, Emily just stepped out to go to the store, so that obviously meant that the two boys crowded in front of the telly, zapping through the channels when MTV caught their attention. It was a live concert special, showing off the greatest rock bands from the past decade and _Back in Black_ by AC/DC blasted from the telly.

For the first time since Alex had known Luke, he was almost motionless, staring at the screen in wonder, so focused on the music … especially as the guitar solo came on. They were ten years old back then, but that was the day that started it all. Luke’s passion for music was put into motion and within two weeks he had worn his parents down to buy him a guitar.

The weeks and months that followed were marked by bloody fingertips, since Luke never knew when to stop and non-stop talking about music, forming a band together and nagging Alex to learn this drum part and that drum part. Sometimes Luke drove him up the walls, but in all honesty, it was also so much fun, he wouldn’t trade a second of any of it.

They met Reggie in middle school, Luke figured out that the boy played bass and made it his life mission to get Reggie to join their band that wasn’t really a band… just two eleven-year-olds messing around that turned into three eleven-year-olds messing around. Back then they played covers, Luke didn’t start writing their own songs for a few years, but that was okay. They mainly played for their families in backyards during BBQs anyways.

Bobby was the fourth member, who got recruited into the band on the second day of their freshman year, him and Luke had been seated together during chemistry and instead of working on their assignment, they gushed about the band shirt Luke had been wearing that day, thus sparking the conversation about music and ending with Luke inviting him into the band and with that their game changed.

After all, they were thirteen and fourteen now and in High School and with that they needed to step up, stop playing at someone’s cousin birthday party and start playing actual gigs. Three weeks into their freshman year, Luke literally bounced into school, clearly on a coffee high with dark circles under his eyes, announcing that he had started to write several songs.

And thus, Sunset Curve was born.

Now their senior year had just started, they had worked their asses off in the past three years and it had slowly started to pay off, because over the last summer they actually got a little following, people started to recognize them at clubs and the days where they played books clubs and children’s birthdays were long gone.

Of course, it wasn’t as easy as it seems for any of them; their rehearsal space let a lot to wish for, they still also had school to worry about, with Luke’s parents breathing down his neck about his grades, which had been an all time low since the year had started back up, just like things between Reggie’s parents seem to get worse and now they also had Alex’ parents to worry about, because they really didn’t approve of the band, and they definitely wouldn’t approve of some of his… choices. Not that it was a choice really…

It’s not like he is gay on purpose. It’s just how it is.

But his worries faded away as they moved seamlessly into the next song, music taking up the space in his brain that is usually always so busy worrying about everything. Banging on his drums, watching his best friends, no, brothers in anything but blood, jump around him with these huge grins on their faces… That’s what true happiness feels like.

So yeah, Alex was really glad that Luke annoyed the crap out of him all these years ago and pushed him to start the band with him.

Hauling his drum kit off the stage and out of the side door was Alex’ least favourite part of playing a gig. He could not wait for the day, when the band finally hit it big and had roadies that did this kind of stuff for them… Not that he was lazy but during the summer they had played several gigs a week, sometimes twice a day… So much so that he had the feeling that he was putting his drum kit apart and back together more often than he actually played it.

“Hey hotdog”, he heard a familiar voice say as he reached the van, unlocking the back before turning around with a blush on his face and an exasperated sigh.

“I still don’t like this nickname…” Alex said, shaking his head. “It’s how I almost died.” Willie grinned, because he knew that even though Alex says that he doesn’t like the name, he also knew that the nickname had grown on the drummer, no matter how embarrassing the story behind it may be.

They were both sure that in only a few years they’ll laugh about the time where Alex chocked on a hotdog during their first date, when Willie decided, that he needed to shake his hair out of the bun he had sported moments before.

“Need a hand?” Willie said instead motioning to the heavy case in front of the drummer, Alex answered with a simple nod and together they lifted the heavy case into the van.

“Hey”, Alex said with a smile standing at the open back of the van, only a foot of space left between them now that the case was in the van.

“Hey again”, Willie said with a grin, his eyes twinkling mischievously, before he reached out and pulled Alex into a kiss, one that Alex had been wishing for since he had gotten home two days ago. Melting into the kiss almost instantly, Alex’ hands moved to Willie’s face, feeling the slight stubble there and letting out a content sigh.

Obviously, his stupid brain kicked in a moment later, remembering that they were only a few feet off a terribly busy road in the middle of Downtown LA … Alex pulled back, leaning his forehead against Willies for a short moment, before stepping back with a tight smile on his face. He wished that he could just stop thinking for a second and not care what other people thought, when they saw them, but he just… he couldn’t.

“Sorry”, Alex mumbled, his eyes staring at everything but Willie, embarrassed that yet again, he was the one to pull away first.

“You got nothing to be sorry for”, Willie said with a shake of his head, putting his hand under Alex’ chin to make the drummer look at him. “We have plenty of time for that later.” Willie added with a wink, before he started walking to the side door, turning his head around with a smile. “You coming? The faster we get your stuff outta there, you know-” He lets the implication hanging in the air, reaching for the door just as it burst open.

“Oh! Hey Willie!” Reggie says with a big smile on his face, fist bumping the skater. His eyes flitting to a frozen Alex, still staring at Willie. “Is Alex okay? He looks- “, he pauses while he tries to look for the right word, “broken?”

“He’s fine”, Willie said with a laugh, “come on, let’s get your stuff, hotdog.” It was the nickname that broke Alex out of his stupor, grimacing, as he tried to catch up with his boyfriend, who already strutted into the club.

“I still don’t like- … okay”, Alex started to say before he shook his head, trying to fight the smile of his face, giving up the pretending to fight the nickname for now. And with the additional pair of hands, they had cleared their stuff off the stage in almost record speed.

“It’s a bummer that you gotta work most nights”, closing the hood of the van before leaning against it, facing the band and Willie with a grin. “You sure you don’t wanna become our roadie?”

“Or groupie”, mumbled Bobby just loud enough for Alex to hear and turn bright red. He really hoped that Willie didn’t hear that, but he appreciated the little ankle kick Luke did to Bobby in order to shut him up.

“Oh, I’m on board if you guys snag a tour and a record deal, but until then… something’s gotta pay my bills”, Willie said with an easy grin, leaning against the side of the van.

“That’s fair”, Reggie said with a nod. “I wish I was an adult…” He added with a sigh.

“You wouldn’t survive a day on your own”, Luke said with a shake of his head. “You almost burned down my house using the microwave last week remember.”

“How was I supposed to know that you need to remove aluminium foil from the packaging…” Reggie said with a sigh.

“And remember the time you tried to fix your amp in the rain?” Alex provided with a pointed look.

“How the hell do you get the grades you do in school and still manage to do shit like that?” Bobby asked the question all three of them have been asking themselves for years. Reggie is a genius when it comes to math and science stuff, but he was not the brightest when it came to real life stuff like cooking or basically surviving…

“I know I’m awesome”, Reggie said with a dopey grin, the rest of the band shook their heads before Luke clapped his hands.

“Yeah, you are”, Bobby said with a laugh, clapping Reggie on the back before he headed to the driver’s side of the van, no surprise there, seeing as it was his van, or more like his dad’s old van.

Luke clapped his hands together, rocking back and forth on his feet for a moment, before exclaiming that they should head out… turning on his heal walking to the shotgun seat, while Reggie slid into the back of the van.

“Guess you’re staying?” Bobby asked out of the open window.

“Yeah”, Alex said with a smile, reaching out to take Willie’s hand in his.

“Well, have fun!” Reggie called out.

“But not too much!” Luke added, wiggling his eyebrows at the couple with a lopsided grin. Alex rolled his eyes, before pleading Bobby to just drive off, before their friends conjured up even more embarrassment for their drummer. Bobby seemed to understand the look Alex was shooting him and with the wave of his hand, he put the van in motion, leaving Alex and Willie along in the alley.

“You got pretty lucky with friends like that”, Willie said after a moment of silence an amused smile on his face.

“Yeah”, Alex said with a nod. “I guess I did.” He watched the van move into the traffic at the end of the alley before he turned his head towards his boyfriend, even only thinking about that word made his stomach do a flip. Tugging on their intertwined hands he pulled Willie closer, smiling at the skater. “Recently things have been pretty awesome.”

And in that moment Alex felt brave, and yeah maybe it could have been a side effect from performing on a stage, but he was pretty sure it was just a side effect of being near Willie. Not that he did a lot of thinking after Alex pulled his boyfriend into another kiss. And being able to feel Willie’s smile against his lips might be even better than being up on a stage.

But nobody should ever tell Luke that Alex even dared to think that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will be the lunch with Alex' parents.


End file.
